The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-10-04
FREE GRACE.
"Ye Know the Grace of Our Lord
Jesus Christ,
THAT, THOUGH HE WAS RICH

I at the Brooklyn tabernacle. An ad Joined
lecture room has been built so that during the
week it is used by ITSELF but on the Sabbath it
is thrown into the main auditorium and filled
| by those sitting or standing. Notwithstanding
| the enlargement the crowds that go away not
able to get inside the building are greater this
| fall than ever before, Today the pastor ex-
| planned appropriate passages of scripture.
| Professor Browne rendered upon the organ the
| frSt sonata IN ID minor, Ritter. The text of
the sermon was from H. Corinthians, chapter
| viii, verse 9: I'VE know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet
for your sahes lie became poor" DR.. Talmage
said:
| That all the worlds which on a cold winters
| night make the heavens one great glitter are
| inhabitantlessis an absurdity. Philosophers
tell US that many Of these worlds are too hot
| or TOO cold OF too rarefied of atmosphere for
| residence. But, if not fit for human abode,
| they may be fit for beings different from and
| superior 10 ourselves We are told that the
world Of Jupiter is changing until it is almost
fit for creatures like the human race and that
| Mars would do for the human family with a
! little change in the structure of the respira-
| tory organs. But that there is great word
swung somewhere, vast beyond Imagination, and
that it is the headquarters Of the
universe, and the metropolis of
immensely, and has a population in number
vast beyond all statistics, and appointments of
| splendor beyond the capacity of canvas, or
| poem, or angel to describe is as certain as the
Bible is authentic. Perhaps some of the as
| tronomers with their big telescopes have al
ready caught a glimpse of it, not knowing
| what it is. We spell 1t with six letters and
| pronounce it Heaven.
That is where Prince Jesus lived nineteen
| centuries ago. He was the Kings son. 1t was
| the old homestead of eternity, and all its cas-
ties were as old as God. Not frost had ever
chilled the air. Not tear had ever rolled
dow the cheek of one of its inhabitants. There
had never been in it a headache, a sideache or
a heartache. There had not been funeral in
the memory of the oldest inhabitant. There
had never in all the land been woven black
veil, for there had never been anything to
mourn over. The passage of millions of
years had not wrinkled or Grip
pied Or bedimmed any of its
citizens All the people there live in a state
monte richness! Gardens of perpetual bloom
and orchards in unend ng fruitaee. Had some
spirit from another word entered and asked,
what is sin? what is bereavement? what is
sorrow? what is death? the brightest of the
intelligences would have failed to give defini-
ton, though to study the question there were
silence in heaven for half an hour. The Prince
OF whom L speak had honors, emoluments, ac-
celestial or terrestrial, ever enjoyed.
AS he passed the street, the
inhabitants took off from their brows garlands
of white lilies and threw them in the way.
| He never entered any of the temples without
all the worshippers rising up and bowling in
obedience. In all the professions of the high
days He was the one who evoked the loudest
welcome Sometimes on foot, walking in low
ing talk with the humblest of the land, but at
other times he took a chariot and among the
twenty thousand that David spoke of
His was the swiftest and most
flaming or, as when John described
Him. lie took white palfrey with what prance
of foot, and arch Sof neck, and roll of man,
and g!eam of eye is only dimly suggested in
the Apocalypse. He was not like other
princes waiting for the Father to die and then
take the throne. When a few years ago an
artist in Germany made picture for the royal
gallery representing Emperor William on the
throne. and the crown prince as having one
foot on the step of the throne, Emperor Will
lain ordered the picture changed and said ::
81 Let the prince keep his feot off the throne
till L leave it,
Already enthroY cd was the heavenly prince.
side by side with his father. What a circle of
| dominion! What myrmidOns of admirers
What unending round of glories! All the
towers chimed the princes praises OF all
the inhabitants, from the centre of the city,
on over the hills and clear down to the beach
against which the ocean of immensely rolls its
pillows, the prince was the acknowledged
| iayoritc. No wonder my text says that, ole
| was rich" Set all the diamonds of the earth
| in one sceptre, build all the palaces of the
| earth in one Alhambra, gather all the pearls
| of the sea in one diadem, put all the values of
| the earth in one coin, the aggregate would not
| express his atluence. Yes, Paul was right.
| Solomon had i'll gold six hundred and eighty
|
nine million three hundred and seventy-seven
! pounds sterling. But greater than SOloman
| is here. Not the millionaire, but the quadrill-
| ionaire of heaven. To describe his celestial
| surroundings the Bible uses all colors gather
| ing them in a rainbow over the throne and set
ting them rs agate in the temple window, and
hosting twelve of them into wall from
striped jasper rs the base to transparent anne
thyst in the capStone, while between are green
of emerald, and snow of pearl, and
blue of sapphire, and yellow of
topaz, and gray of chrysoprasus and flame
of iacinth. All the loveliness of landscape in
foliage and river and rill, and all enchantment
aquamarine, the sea of glass mingled with fire,
as when the sun sinks i'll the Mediterranean.
All the thrill of music instrumental and vocal,
harps. trumpetS, doXologies. There stood the
prince, surrounded by those who had under
their wings the velocity of millions of miles in
a second, rich in love, rich in alteration, rich
in power, rich in worship, rich i'll holiness, rich
as God.
But one day there was a big disaster in a de-
partment of Gods universe y race fallen
A world in ruins! Our planet the scene of
catastrophe A globe swinging out into dark
ness, with mountains, and seas, and islands,
an awful centrifugal of sin seeming to over
power the beautiful ccntrlpetal of righteous
ness, and from it a groan reached heaven.
Such sound had never been heard there.
Plenty of sweet sounds, but never an cutlery Of
distress, or an echo of agony. At that one
groan the Prince rose from all the blissful cir
| cumstance, and started for the outer gate, and
| descended into the night of this world. Out
| of what bright harbor into what rough sea!
"Stay with us cried angel after
angel and potsntate after pote,n1-
| cannot stay | must be off for that wreck of a
| world. l must stop that groan. l must hush
| that distress, l must fathom that way l
| must redeem those nations. Farewell, thrones
| and temples, companions cherubic, serapbic,
| archangehc Excuse this absence, for l will
come back again, carrying on my shoulder
ransomed world. Till this is done 1 choose
| earthly scott to heavenly reclamation, and
cattle pen to n kings palace, frigid zone OF
earth to atmosphere Of celestial radiance. l
| have no time to loose, for bark ye to the groan
that grows mightier while 1 wait. Farewell!
| FAREWELL
! "Yc know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
| that. though he was rich, yet for your sakes
| lie became poor.
| Mas there ever a contrast so overpowering
| rs that between the MONDAY Of ChriSt's CeleS-
tial departure and the midnight of His earthly
arrival? Sure enough the angels were out
that night in the sky and especial meteor
acted rs escort, but all that was from other
worlds and not from this world. The earth
| made no demonstration of welcome. If one